played in an unfamiliar right-back position with both Stephen Carr and Stuart Parnaby injured. Premier League August Birmingham opened their Premier League campaign with a visit to Sunderland. Garry O'Connor returned to the team after two operations on a chronic hip problem caused him to miss most of the previous season, and goalkeeper Ben Foster made his debut. Captain Stephen Carr fouled Fraizer Campbell to concede a penalty which Darren Bent converted, though the foul appeared to have been committed outside the penalty area. Home captain Lee Cattermole had already avoided punishment for cutting O'Connor's head open with an elbow, but still received two yellow cards and was sent off before half-time. Carr doubled Sunderland's lead with an own goal when an attempted headed clearance looped over Foster. Alex McLeish brought on new signing Nikola Žigić, who "injected a note of panic hitherto undetected" in the home team's defence as Sebastian Larsson's crosses produced goals from Scott Dann and a late equaliser from Liam Ridgewell after a goalmouth scramble. Žigić marked his first start, at home to Blackburn Rovers, by pulling Christopher Samba's shirt to concede a penalty. After Foster saved Morten Gamst Pedersen's spot-kickone of many saves in a man-of-the-match performanceBlackburn took the lead. Craig Gardner equalised three minutes later with a tap-in from James McFadden's cushioned volley, and after Nikola Kalinić had hit the post, Gardner scored the winner in the second half with a shot. Matt Derbyshire, on loan from Olympiacos, made his debut as a second-half substitute. In an eventful visit to Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham took an early lead after a passing move involving McFadden, Lee Bowyer and Cameron Jerome was finished by Roger Johnson with his first goal for the club. After 36 minutes, Johnson fouled goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen as both competed for a bouncing ball. As the players got to their feet, Jääskeläinen slapped Johnson across the face and was sent off. Five minutes into the second half, McFadden's cross was headed down by Jerome for Gardner to score a scrappy goal at his second attempt. Bolton pulled one back from the penalty spot after Johnson was judged to have fouled Gary Cahill, then with ten minutes left, a foul was given against Barry Ferguson, who had appeared to be squeezed between two Bolton players. From just outside the penalty area, former Birmingham forward Robbie Blake struck a superb free kick to tie the